Leaving or staying?

There has been much discussion about how long the Americans will stay in Iraq. Bush's assurances that "as the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down" imply that the departure is imminent. Discussions about how may troops will leave before the mid-terms and the advisability of a timetable for a withdrawal are commonplace . But it seems pretty clear to this untrained eye that the American presence is there for the long haul. I have heard about the construction of permanent military bases but check out this embassy! Any doubts but that this is a long-term commitment?

The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq's turbulent future.

[...]

The embassy complex — 21 buildings on 104 acres, according to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report — is taking shape on riverside parkland in the fortified "Green Zone," just east of al-Samoud, a former palace of
Saddam Hussein's, and across the road from the building where the ex-dictator is now on trial.

[...]

"The presence of a massive U.S. embassy — by far the largest in the world — co-located in the Green Zone with the Iraqi government is seen by Iraqis as an indication of who actually exercises power in their country," the International Crisis Group, a European-based research group, said in one of its periodic reports on Iraq.

[...]

Embassy Baghdad" will dwarf new U.S. embassies elsewhere, projects that typically cover 10 acres. The embassy's 104 acres is six times larger than the United Nations compound in New York, and two-thirds the acreage of Washington's National Mall. Original cost estimates ranged over $1 billion